In my “Mutual Incomprehension” piece yesterday, I suggested that the USA
probably leads the world in a (so far as I could discover) yet-ungathered
statistic: private-household ownership of the country’s flag. Well, we
have at least one competitor for that top spot. A reader in Israel has
e-mailed me: “In this country–at least, in my city (Jerusalem)–one can
walk around a residential neighbourhood on a day that is not a national
holiday and see Israeli flags in windows, on balconies, on bumper stickers,
in bus shelters… Israeli patriotism (although, in many, eroded by the
intellectually stylish theory behind post-Zionism) is alive and kicking;
many of us still feel heart-burstingly proud of our accomplishment as a
country, and take pride in the historical discourse, acted-upon idealism and
national initiative and identity out of which our flag emerged. … My
husband and I own four copies of our flag (two full
sized, two car-sized). I found my personal copy of our flag lying in the
bushes on Mount Zion as I was walking down from the Old City, shortly after
I had
left the comforts of Canada and immigrated here. It means a lot to me, as
I’m sure you can imagine.”